Thanks dtel- I thought about putting some bamboo up to mask the LED strips, will see what I have left when I'm done playing with some of the walls. I admit, Maya is starting to like the idea of her bar- her friends are excited about it, which makes her Isomewhat) proud, and slightly less concerned. Ha!

Still have to get around to cleaning up the rest of the garage, which will make her happier. Also, lots of stuff to add on the opposite wall....

Keep up the great work and update with pictures. I see you went with your first choice of names for your bar. Has a nice ring to it. Your wife will catch Tiki Fever before you know it. It may influence her further if you buy her own drinking vessel. Maybe one of a wahine on it or something like this:
_________________Mahalo,

Ha, thanks- well, a few of the drink names are named for the dogs- and I'm currently carving out a mug dedicated to one of them (her 14 year old chihuahua. She's all about midcentury design, but tiki, not so much- she's come to Oasis to check it out (during the days of the free Sundays and didn't "get" it. Getting there, though....

Though it might be premature, here's a rough menu for the bar. I'm going to start brewing my own ginger beer so there'll be some additions to include it.

FYI, Dreyfus is our 3 legged crazy dog, and Paco is the old man chihuahua.

Wendy, yes- I'm (still) working on the lighting but they're there! I was actually working on hanging some art on the walls- and was figuring out where to hang the red Moai pendant I got from you (that's been hanging on a wall in another part of the house).

I've been a bit swamped w/ work so haven't had much time to make progress- and the garage suddenly got filled up with holiday gifts. Starting to clear it back out- and adding some art to the walls. I'll post more photos later, but I worked on this yesterday:

I've had a dartboard on the garage door for a while, and I wanted to keep it. I painted the door of the garage and pulled the cabinet off. I tried burning the wood finish on the cabinet first- not the best idea. I test burned the sides of the cabinet that to see what it would look like- while the wood darkened, the finish melted and created a surprisingly toxic cloud of stink as it ran off- but at least it helped the look of it and wouldn't need more treatment. (Sorry, I didn't take photos as I worked- it was late last night, and I kept seeing strange green and purple figures floating around- probably should have stopped burning that damn wood).

I measured and cut matting for each door then stapled it on. I then took some of the bamboo paneling I had left over from wrapping the bar and used it around the perimeter of each door to hide the staples.

It needed more, so made (very rough) diamonds on each door, inspired by Bamboo Ben's diamonds behind the bar at The Breezeway. I burned these pieces to darken them (and separate them from the bamboo along the perimeter) and liked the look of it. Felt it needed something more. I looked around at all of the work that needed to go up on the walls and realized I didn't have a lot of wall space- but I did want to use a matching set of Moais I had gotten from Buzzy a while back- and I wanted them to be seen. I put them in the center of each diamond and thought they were a good focal point.

Wendy, there will definitely be an area in the bar dedicated to your work.

dtel, I finally got around to it and added a second (vertical) layer of bamboo to hide the LEDs. I'm using leftover pieces instead of using a larger (er, more solid one)- but it does the job hiding the lights. In a few spots there's a little leak, but adds to the glowing effect.

Earlier today I started adding more artwork to the walls. On the bar side I added a Tiki Tony carving, a Moai mask from Oceanic Arts- forgot to take a photo. To the left of the dartboard door I secured a found bamboo runner (staple gun)- which worked perfectly as a backing for a jigsawed piece I had made (then shot into the wall). The bamboo curtain acts as another divider between the bar and "garage" part of the garage.

The opposite side of the garage will have a small seating area, and a few higher tables (once I get around to building them). I found some rattan furniture on craigslist, will post some photos when that corner of the garage is cleared out. I plan to use this side for framed artwork, almost like a gallery. There's more to come but so far I have one print from Eric October, Henrik Van Tiki, and more.

Henrik's silkscreened print went up in between two bamboo half rounds that were originally going to frame shelving for a bowl display (which will have to go somewhere else now):

I then added some of his tiles below the print:

These will look a lot different with the bar lighting, but will have to add some special lighting to highlight the gallery.

dtel, it's true- Maya is looking forward to it- though I think she's possibly equally excited in having it look more like a bar and less like a construction zone. Patience is a virtue....

After an initial stab at hiding the LEDs using bits of bamboo panelling, replaced it with larger half rounds of bamboo. Looks a lot better, I think. Thanks to all for the suggestions! I also organized some of the mugs- figuring out whether to organize by artist, style, color, etc.

I ran out of half rounds, so burned some 1x2s and cut them into the width of the extra shelves. It looks different, but does the job.

TikiPops, amongst all the other uber talented routers inspired me to work more on signs. I had cut out some arrows & burned them a while back but hadn't done anything more than write on them. I'll eventually add a whole lot of other beaches, but for now went for some of my favorite surfing beaches- both at home:

and further away:

I had planned on having them on a post, but wasn't sure where it would/ could live in the garage. I decided to stick them onto the garage door- it needs to be covered up somehow, and I doubt I'll get the pass to paint or replace the door from Maya.... It was good practice w/ the router. I switched bits, burned a new piece of wood:

Then made a sign with the bar name with a 90 degree bit:

Still clearing things out- and trying to use all of the lumber that I've been collecting for some time, or get rid of it. Getting there.

Need to add more lighting to highlight some of the art on the opposite side of the room (in the seating area). While some of the art is visible, I'd like people's eyes to focus on it as they walk in. I also hung some more art (from Tiki Tony, Wendy, Buzzy, & Oceanic Arts) behind the bar- will try to post some more updates tomorrow....

Additions: Low light and iphone = crappy photos, my apologies. I need to add lighting is to improve photo quality, not to mention it will help my terrible eyeballs out.

I had made these small (3") ceramic portholes but didn't know where they would live (photos on my other craft thread), then realized that the garage door was it. I crossed my fingers and used mounting tape (they're pretty lightweight), then cut circles out of an old Hawaiian print pillowcase and spray adhesived it inside the hole.

I added a high shelf near the seating area, used it for one of my early bowls- I think I may add a whole shelf area here for bowls ("The Ala Moana," for another fun surf spot (Bowls). I also hung one of the small Kahiki fireplace tiles I made above it. Hoping my stuff looks better when it's next to tobunga's/ Eric's Tonga Hut painting?

Behind the bar some more art: from Tiki Tony, Munktiki (vase), and Wendy Cevola- Wendy, I still think this red glaze is my favorite (and I still can't find it!). A few of Wendy's mugs are visible to the lower right (including the latest Sac Crawl mug and 1.5 Bob mugs). The lower Moai is from Oceanic Arts. The empty spaces will eventually be filled- I plan a controlled clutter of art. From the angle you can see how I covered just the front threaded bolt w/ the half round bamboo- may have to add something to "hide" the side of this shelf....